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YIMBYs: Friend, Foe, or Chaos Agent?

Tuesday, February 26th, 2019
In This Issue: After Redlining ● Medicaid Dollars for Housing? ● Closing the Divide Between Fair and Affordable Housing ● Are We Being Half-hearted About Fighting Segregation? ● YIMBYs: Friend, Foe, or Chaos Agent?● Also: Jobs ● Shelter Shorts ● Events +
Amanda Abrams, Shelterforce Health Fellow
The U.S. Health and Human Services secretary says his department is exploring ideas to pay for non-health services like housing and nutrition with Medicaid, but it’s unclear whether that would, or could, actually happen. Read Full Article
Miriam Axel-Lute, Shelterforce
The relationship between pro-building “Yes in My Back Yard” activists, longtime housing advocates, and anti-displacement organizers varies across the country, but has often been fraught with difficulties. Is there a way forward? Read Full Article
Miriam Axel-Lute, Shelterforce
The Regional Affordable & Fair Housing Roundtable pulled off something that has often been elusive—building enough trust between fair housing advocates and place-based community developers to... Read Full Article
Shelterforce Staff
This week: Carson’s HUD Does Something Really Good | Raising the Minimum Wage | Statewide Rent Control in Oregon | Airbnb's Real Impact On Housing Costs | And More Quick Takes From Our Editors
Lisa Rice, National Fair Housing Alliance
Though laws and practices like headrights and redlining are things of the past, they were among the building blocks of a systemic structure intentionally designed to aid some and debilitate others, and their repercussions are still being felt... Read Full Article
Josh Silver, National Community Reinvestment Coalition
When practitioners talk about revitalizing neighborhoods, they often have very different strategies in mind, and so there is no consensus among the disciplines about whether the approach is full-bore integration or revitalizing distressed neighborhoods, or a mix. This compilation of essays... Read Full Article
Events
Thursday, February 28, 12 p.m EST | Communities at Risk: Understanding the Challenges Facing Middle Neighborhoods | Middle neighborhoods tend to get little attention, but they are increasingly under strain. In this webinar presented by the Center for Community Progress, Alan Mallach will introduce middle neighborhoods, discussing what they are, why they matter, and how they’re changing. Register here.

Thursday, March 7, 2 p.m EST | Responsible Demolition and Productive Land Reuse in Baltimore and Detroit | In this webinar, presented by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, learn how officials in Baltimore and Detroit have used environmentally responsible practices for demolishing structures in their efforts to address chronic vacancy, and have developed land-reuse strategies for productive and inclusive community change. To register: password communi. Learn more and register here.
Industry News
PLACE, a volunteer-led network of housing and community development practitioners, has become an affinity group within the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. PLACE had 183 member organizations in 46 states focused on community development practitioners. They join NCRC's grassroots network of 600 local organizations.

Terri Ludwig, who has been CEO of Enterprise Community Partners since 2010, left her role to join Ballmer Group as president of philanthropy. Laurel Blatchford, president of Enterprise, will be taking on the CEO role until successor is named.
Resources
Learn more about Build Healthy Places Network's recently released Principles for Building Healthy and Prosperous Communities for work across sectors in low-income communities to improve health and wellbeing. These principles are derived from a thematic review of mission statements and principles from 35 organizations representing the community development, health, academic, government, finance, and philanthropic sectors.
Opportunities
Climate Change, Health & Equity Initiative
The Kresge Foundation invites community-based, nonprofit organizations seeking to accelerate work at the intersection of climate change, health, and equity in urban, low-income communities in the U.S. to submit an application for the planning phase of the initiative community-based strategy. To learn more, visit here.

Knight Public Spaces Fellowship
From now until March 22, the Knight Foundation will be accepting nominations for leaders with an exemplary track record of crafting public spaces—trails, parks, plazas and streets—that create opportunities for connection and civic engagement. A small group of fellows will receive a share of up to $1 million in flexible resources to continue their work. For information or to nominate someone, visit here.
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You Said It!
Trinidad Ruiz: The revolution will not be televised but @Shelterforce will print it. Read it. via Twitter

Furman Center: Some really thought-provoking pieces in this month's @Shelterforce including a must-read breakdown of how housing markets work by @rjacobus via Twitter

Vince Slupski: This is a terrific article, deserves wide distribution! One missing element is a discussion of the role of filtering... Read more

Maya A. Brennan: Wow. @rjacobus wrote one of the best housing market explainers I've seen. Read it. Thank him and @Shelterforce via Twitter

James Demby: Really liked this @Shelterforce article, and I feel like I learned something. via Twitter

Stephen Larrick: So @Shelterforce is always , but this one is soo spot on. Puts straightforward language/argument to nuanced thoughts on housing policy (+politics) that I've been having. via Twitter

Dani Aiello: This is a MUST read for EVERYONE to understand why straight up supply is not the answer to our housing crisis. (And why filtering is not actually a given!!!) Thanks @rjacobus and @Shelterforce for dropping this clear and nuanced analysis it’s so timely. via Twitter

Daniel Herriges, StrongTowns: If you're interested in a deep dive into housing policy, and you haven't been reading Shelterforce's coverage of America's affordable-housing debate, you're missing out. The community-development blog consistently addresses a diverse mix of perspectives and doesn't settle for any side's easy answers or dogma. This piece by Miriam Axel-Lute on NIMBY vs. YIMBY is a really good longer read. Read more

Ryan Tanaka: Great post! Probably the most honest and accurate thing I’ve read in a while, honestly. I saw a need for the movement to make in-roads to other groups so I... Read more


Michael Lewyn: Very nuanced- one of the best things I’ve read on Shelterforce! Read more

Melissa McWhinney: Wow— thank you! Yes. This is the conversation that addresses what’s happening in my city, where we argue and argue about whether it’s best to allow developers to build high rises, ostensibly to meet demand and thereby reduce rents, or keep them out because if they build, everyone’s rent will go up... Read more

Kresge Arts&Culture: Thoughtful piece, "What we don't know about development and displacement" from @Shelterforce via Twitter

Jack Wegman: To me, there’s a specific way to form that anti-displacement-YIMBY coalition that the discussants were mentioning that we should talk about more... Read more

Supported Housing: Damn informative!! This is a great article, and something I think needs to be communicated more often. Mostly the people with developmental disabilities want to live on their own terms and... Read more

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Jobs
Director of Modernization and Development The Paterson Housing Authority (PHA) has an immediate opening for a highly motivated individual to lead the PHA’s Modernization & Development Department. This individual must possess a proven track record of prior Development/Modernization experience with development of affordable housing LIHTC, HUD and other Public/Private funding. Read Full Listing
Director of Fund Development The Better Housing Coalition (BHA) Director of Fund Development is a strategic member of the External Affairs team and will oversee and advance BHC’s individual giving strategy, including annual fund, major gifts and planned gifts; enhance corporate and foundation relationships and grant strategy; and forecast endowment campaigns and...Read Full Listing
Housing Advocacy Organizer NLIHC seeks a well-qualified housing advocacy organizer to join its field team. The housing advocacy organizer mobilizes NLIHC members and partners on federal policy advocacy based on NLIHC’s policy agenda, assists in the design and implementation of campaign field strategies, and ...Read Full Listing
Grant Support Technician The City of Medford seeks a Grant Support Technician who performs a wide variety of professional and administrative services related to grant administration and departmental programs and activities. This position reports to the Housing and Community Development Principal Planner and...Read Full Listing
Senior Project Manager The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) seeks a Senior Project Manager to perform a wide variety of tasks related to planning and developing affordable housing for TNDC. The Senior Project Manager coordinates and implements all activities relating to project development from ... Read Full Listing
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